


Blue Water

by Tomboy13



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: EFA Fic Live 4, F/F, Fluff, From the prompt “Blue”, Tooth Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24258214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomboy13/pseuds/Tomboy13
Summary: Waverly Earp has never seen blue water. She isn’t even sure she believes in that kind of thing anymore.
Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 10
Kudos: 75





	Blue Water

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the prompt “Blue” from the wonderful Earp Fiction Addiction podcast.

When she was a little girl, Waverly Earp liked to draw. She drew constantly, on scraps of paper that Wynonna would rip from her school books, or week-old newspapers, or the cardboard innards of cereal packets, always with the small boxes of wax crayons that her aunt and uncle would pick up for free at chain restaurants on their visits to the city. The boxes were a lovely mint hue, and the crayons inside were always the same selection: black, red, green, yellow, and blue.

While her life fell apart around her ears, Waverly would draw in bright block colours for hours, wearing the wax down to mere stubs as she laid out the world as only a child can understand it. Lips were red and upturned in a smile; the grass was always luscious green; and water, of course, was blue. There were no greys, no pastels or fading; just clear lines and an image that was never more that 5 shades deep.

It wasn’t until she got older, as she turned from a shy, scared little girl into a quiet, thoughtful young woman, that she realised what nonsense those pictures had been. The mouths she saw around her were more often than not open in anger or frowning in sadness; the grass was mostly the dull beige of the prairies; and above all, water was every colour imaginable, except of course blue.

Blood-red was the colour of the rusty water that pooled around the Johnson’s old tractor; the river was brown and slow, or white and rapid; the pond behind the elementary school where they fished for frogs and, later, played at boyfriends and girlfriends was slime green; and the water that came out of the tap didn’t even have a colour at all. Gradually, as the years went by and life showed her more and more unkindnesses, she began to accept that blue water was little more than a lie of childhood like the tooth fairy or fairness, no matter what the faded pictures in the window of Smith’s Travel Agent suggested. Then, one awful day shortly after Wynonna left and with more than a hint of bitterness, she packed those memories away for good along with the drawings and the crayons, and forgot all about them.

It wasn’t until she saw Nicole’s bright red hair and cream-pale skin, and felt the neon fireworks of desire exploding in her tummy at each stolen glance, that she once again thought of the colours that had painted the world when she was small, and allowed them to colour it once again.

“You’ve really never seen the ocean?” Nicole asked one night with a gentle smile, the soft haze of their love-making still hanging lilac over the bed as she played idly with Waverly’s pliant fingers.

“Nope.” Waverly murmured, enjoying the loose feeling of her muscles as she came down from her orgasm, listening as her heart slowed to a calmer rhythm in her naked chest. “I’ve never even seen the lakes. Have you?”

“A few times.”

Waverly lay silent for a moment, twining their fingers, allowing her mind to drift; she imagined Nicole, younger and in a swimsuit on a beach she’d once seen in a picture book, kicking sand with her thin feet, walking lazily along the dunes, swimming in the cool, sapphire sea. Sapphire. Waverly frowned. “Is it true?”

“Is what true, baby?” Nicole asked, blinking out of her own thoughts.

Waverly tilted her head up, her brows still creased. “Is the water blue?”

The older woman looked at the ceiling for a moment, appearing thoughtful. “Sometimes.” She said after a pause. “Sometimes it’s a deep navy blue, or green, or even turquoise, in the height of summer. Sometimes it’s grey. It depends on the weather and the seabed. There’s a bay in Ontario where the water is an amazing crystalline blue, like you were in the Caribbean or Greece. Somewhere exotic.”

“I’d like to see blue water.” Waverly sighed dreamily, in her mind’s eye already swimming through liquid the colour of the June sky, and watching royal blue coat her smooth skin. “I can’t imagine it.”

“We should change that.” Nicole chuckled, running a hand through her shoulder-length red hair. “When the worlds not ending.”

“Mmm.” Waverly said with a yawn, feeling her eyes drift closed. “When the worlds not ending.”

——————-—————————————-

The black tarmac was sticky and hazy in front of Waverly’s Jeep, the summer sun beating down hard across the Ontario countryside on either side of the highway. The top was off, and the wind streaming through had made Nicole’s hair a little unkempt, a little knotty; Waverly herself had tied her brunette locks up in a bun, the rays making her bare shoulders glow olive under a layer of lotion. 

They’d been driving for hours, having rested overnight at a clean but spartan motel just outside of Dublin Ontario, and although they’d caught glimpses of attractive seaside-looking towns basking on the shores of Lake Superior, and the proud, decadent tourist resorts of the Blue Mountains, Nicole had insisted that Tobermory would be worth the wait. Now, the closer they got, the worse the boiling, roiling white-hot anticipation in Waverly’s stomach became.

“Do you think we should have packed a few more jumpers?” The younger woman asked suddenly, peering into the back seat at their bags. 

Nicole laughed, light and breezy, dropping into a lower gear as she pulled off at the junction, the bosky green of the pines lining the slip road sending out cool shadows in the midday heat.

“Baby, we repacked 3 times, I’m sure that we have everything we need.” Nicole said, switching off the indicator and chancing a glance at her anxious passenger. “Anything we may have forgotten we can just buy when we get there.”

Waverly nodded, biting her lip, and returned to staring at the scenery whizzing by in a smear of summer colours. This was the first time she’d ever left the Ghost River Triangle, and she felt...Nervous? Happy? Hopeful? Maybe a mix of those things, all setting off the butterflies in her guts. 

Ahead of them a sign came into view: “Tobermory Welcomes You!”, it announced in big red letters plastered brazenly above a simple painting of a lighthouse and, to Waverly’s growing excitement, a mass of blue, blue water.

“Holding on a little tight there, Wave.” Nicole grimaced, good-naturedly prizing Waverly’s fingers from her bare thigh. Waverly turned slowly, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

“We’re _here_.” She managed to hiss out after a moment, pointing at the sign as it flew past. 

Nicole chuckled, leaning across to rub her work-worn palm over her girlfriend’s knee. “You wait, Waverly Earp. You’re going to love this.” 

The town was small, clustered seemingly around one long road that cut ruthlessly through the peninsula. It was bordered by hotels and restaurants, shops selling inflatables and hiring jet skis, all spaced out, white-painted and elegant looking. Waverly found herself peering with glee at the passers-by - the old couples winding their way down the pavement hand in hand, and the running, hysterical children, their parents hollering after them in exasperation. 

“I love it.” Waverly declared, throwing her arms out wide as the road ran out and they pulled up to a stop sign, the smell of fresh-fried donuts wafting out of a small stand next to them. At the stall, a mother was helping her little boy choose an ice cream, his face serious and calculating as he mulled over his options. Smiling to herself, Waverly looked forwards, staring through the evergreens and between cars parked close together in a busy lot...she couldn’t quite make out what she was seeing beyond that, her eyes trying to focus on the unfamiliar landscape. She gasped. “Jesus crackers, is that the lake?”

“Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t have seen it yet.” Nicole sighed, shaking her head fondly. 

“Oh my god!” Waverly shrieked, bouncing in her seat. Nearby, some of the other tourists looked their way, some scowling, some smiling. Waverly ignored them. “Are we parking there? Are there changing rooms? Shoot, I should have put my bikini on under my clothes!”

“Not yet, sweetie.” Nicole smiled as the lights changed, pulling away and turning left past the entrance to the beach car park. “Just hold on for a few more minutes.” Waverly watched over her shoulder as the sea front got further away, feeling a hint of disappointment but not willing to spoil the moment by arguing. 

They drove for what felt like hours but could have been no more than five minutes, before Nicole took them off the main road and onto a gravelly dirt track. The Jeep bumped and jumped over the pot holes, throwing up clouds of terracotta dust in its wake. The forest around them was a melange of bottle greens and soothing greys, cool and earth scented, and Waverly found herself feeling calmed by it. “It’s lovely here.” She sighed. 

“You wait.” Nicole grinned mischievously. Waverly smiled, eyes soaking in her lover’s profile, enjoying the way the older woman’s eyes crinkled when she smiled, and the dimple popping teasingly in her cheek. She wondered idly how Nicole would react to a kiss pressed against the firm line of her throat, if it would distract her, or if she would chuckle that sensual laugh that Waverly so loved and drive on.

She was so lost in her musings that she didn’t immediately realise they had left the woods behind, pulling out onto a small sparse patch of sandy ground, enclosed behind by trees and in front by a small lip of earth and rocks. Nicole stopped the vehicle and turned off the engine. “Here.”

Waverly pursed her lips. “Here?”

“Yep.” Nicole said, eyes twinkling. “This is a top secret spot. Only known by me, and about 3000 locals. But we should be safe from prying eyes, at least for a little while.”

Waverly giggled. “Well then, lead the way.”

Leaving the Jeep, Nicole held out her hand, leading them to a well worn path and towards the crest of the mound; the dirt underneath their feet was hard-packed and mustard yellow, the dry grasses tickling Waverly’s bare legs and sandled feet. As they reached the top, Waverly felt her world dissolve, the old certainties disappearing as her eyes were filled with nothing but blue.

The water stretched as far as she could see; here and there islands loomed misty and tranquil, and the soft cry of guillemots framed the image like a perfect song. The lake was, as Nicole had promised, a multitude of colour. The water closest to the shore was an unreal electric blue, broken by the splashing of bathers and rendered almost green in places by seaweed smothered rocks. As the water deepened, it became darker: cornflower, changing to azure, changing to royal, and finally a deep navy that reminded Waverly of a poem she’d read in one of her classes: _And what if one of the gods does wreck me out on the wine-dark sea..._

Next to her, Nicole shifted, breathing deeply into her lungs the fresh, clean air. She seemed strong, and easy, and utterly unfazed by the unravelling of Waverly’s last long-held pessimism. “I stopped believing in this and yet it’s true.” She said quietly, feeling rather than seeing Nicole smile at her words. “It’s beautiful.” 

“Waverly Earp,” Nicole whispered softly, brushing a stray lock of hair from Waverly’s face, “you deserve beautiful things, even if sometimes they seem impossible.”

“Even blue water?” Waverly smiled, her voice thick with emotion. Nicole laughed.

“Even blue water, my angel.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Coleen for talking me through the best beaches in Canada. If any of the geography seems a little off, it’s entirely my own fault - let’s call it artistic license.


End file.
